The present invention relates to a carton which is easily sealable, preferably by automated equipment, and easily openable by a consumer. More particularly, this invention relates to a carton having lap flaps on one end and preferably a tuck-in flap on the other end. Such a carton may be joined to a substantially identical carton to form a dual carton, and may be used for the packaging of cigarette packs. The present invention also relates to means for joining two cartons together to form a dual carton.
Cigarette packs (which usually contain twenty cigarettes) are generally rectangular in shape, having front and back long walls connected by two short side walls. Cigarette cartons typically contain two rows of five cigarette packs per row (each row arranged so that the front long walls of the packs are in the same plane and the back long walls are in a parallel plane spaced from the front long walls), and are generally known in the art as ten-pack cartons. Such cigarette cartons are generally filled with cigarette packs by the manufacturer, temporarily closed (e.g., by folding the top flap of the carton over the top of the carton and releasably securing the flap in the closed position), and shipped to various distributors. The distributors generally open the cartons to apply the tax stamp that may be required by the jurisdiction in which they operate to the ends of individual cigarette packs while the packs are still inside the cartons. Such procedures are commonly automated, to reduce time, cost, and labor, through the use of specially designed machines for applying tax stamps. Tax-stamping machines have been developed to open the cartons, apply the stamps, and finally seal the cartons for distribution. Such machines are generally commercially available, and are well known in the art. These machines have been developed for ten-pack cartons, i.e., cartons containing two rows of five cigarette packs per row. A typical tax-stamping machine is model FUSON manufactured by Meyercord of 365 East North Avenue, Carol Stream, Ill. 60187.
Cigarette cartons are typically formed from blanks in which the front and rear walls of the cartons are joined along their bottom edges by a bottom wall. Such cartons cannot be opened along their bottom wall because this bottom wall is an integral part of the blank from which the front and rear walls extend. Moreover, cigarette cartons typically have lapped flaps on their top ends, which are sealed with permanent adhesive, by such tax-stamping machines as described above, so that the cartons remain securely sealed in transit from the distributor to the retailer. Such flaps are desirable because they are easy to open by the plow of a tax-stamping machine when the flaps are joined with releasable adhesive, and easy to seal, after tax-stamping, by machine. However, such flaps are difficult for a consumer to open after tax-stamping because of the type of adhesive used, and generally are not reclosable.
If such cartons are provided with flaps which are to be tucked into the carton instead of lapped over each other over the carton, commercially available tax-stamping machinery is not typically equipped to close such cartons. Such tuck-in flaps, however, would be easier to open after tax-stamping, by a consumer, and would allow the consumer to reclose the carton.